Safety attachment for street-cars



(No Model.)

Y 2 Sheets-'Sheet 1. H. A. HOWE.

sAEETY ATTACHMENT EOE STREET GARS. No. 520,233. Patented May 22, 1894.A

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

H. A. HOWE.

Y sAEETY ATTACHMENT -EoE STREET cAEs. No. 520,233.

Patented May 22, 1894.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. HOWE, OF ALBION, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, AND JOSEPH NORVVOOD, OFBROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR STREET-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 520,233, dated May 22,1894.

Applicationled September 21, 1893. Serial No. 486.098. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, HENRY A. HovvE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Albion, in the county of Orleans and State of New York, haveinvented an Improvement in Safety Attachments for Street-Cars, of whichthe following is a specification.

In my application, Serial No. 484,089, led August 26, 1893, and patentedFebruary 27, 1894, No. 515,588, a Vguard is represented to project infront of the Wheels and held by spring pressure so that the same isabove the roadway and the track, but the front edge of the guard isclosely adjacent to such pavement and track, and provision is made forturning the guard up out of the way when not required, and the front andlower edge of the guard is fitted with a cushion of rubber or similarmaterial to lessen the risk of injury should the guard come in contactwith a person that mayhave fallen upon the pavement.

In consequence of the inequality of the pavement it is necessary thatthe front edge of the guard in its normal position should be at somelittle distance above the upper surfaces of the tracks or rails, and theobject of the present invention is to provide an instantaneous means fordepressing the outer edge of the guard so that the same will passbeneath a person or an obstruction in front of the car, thereby raisingsuch person upon the guard instead of running over such person.

In cities where cars are propelled either by electricity or by a cable,the motorman or gripman is often taxed to his utmost ability in managingthe car; both hands are usually employed in applying or releasing thebrakes and in either gripping the cable or in coutrolling the electriccurrent, and usually one foot is employed in operating the signal bellto give warning of the approach of the car, and in cases of suddenemergency the brakes have to be applied and the grip disconnected or thecurrent thrown 0E and the bell sounded, and to simultaneously actuate aguard in front of a car is very diicult.

My present invention relates to the combination with a pivoted oryielding guard, the front edge of which is normally at a sufficientdistance above the track for clearing the pavement, of mechanismactuated by a lateral movement of the body or the leg of the motorman orgripman, so as to throw down the guard into contact with the pavement,or nearly so, for underrunning a person that may be in the way of thecar, so as to pick up such person upon the guard and prevent him beingrun over, and by a similar movement in the reverse direction the frontedge of the guard may be elevated to prevent injury to the guard bycontact with any rigid substance, such as a paving block or otherobstruction that may accidentally bein the road in front of the car.

Y In the drawings, Figure lis an elevation partially in section (thesection being at about the line x. of Fig. 2) representing my guard asapplied to the front `of a car with the connections therefor andmechanism operated by the driver for giving motion to the guard. Fig. 2is a plan view illustrative of the relative positions of the respectiveparts.

The guard A is to be of any desired char acter; it is advantageouslymade with a conveX front edge having a fender or cushion 2 of rubberfastened to the frame of the guard, and Within the frame of the guard isa suitable netting preferably of wire-work, and such guard might beprovided with metallic strips or plates adapted to receive and support ahuman body or other substance to be caught up by the guard and preventthe car passing over the same, and this guard is connected to theplatform B either by hinges 3 or yielding connections such as springs toform a permanent connection with the platform but to allow the frontedge of the guard to be raised or lowered.

Where hinges are provided with blocks of rubber behind the flanges ofthe hinges, as in my aforesaid patent, the rubber springs hold the frontedge of the guard in its normal position at a proper distance above theroadway or track; Springs of any suitablercharacter may be employed; Ihave represented blocks of rubber at 4 to form said springs.

Connected with the guard kA is a suitable mechanism to be operated uponby a lateral movement of the body or legof the motorman or gripman forthrowingthe front edge of the guard downwardly when required for use, or

for throwing such front edge upwardly to clear an obstruction. With thisobject in View I prefer to use a lever C pivoted at 5 and connected by alink 6 with an arm 7 extending down from the top of the guard A, or suchlink 6 may be connected directly with any suitable portion of the guard,and at the upper end of the lever C is a shield-piece 8, preferably inthe form of an arc of a circle and adapted to be pressed upon by the legof a driver or by any other part of the body, so that the driver is ableto act upon the lever C without loosening his hands from the brakemechahism, the grip mechanism, or the device for controlling theelectric current, according to the character of motor made use of inpropelling the car; and at the same time one of the feet is free foracting upon the alarm or signal bell, so that the additional duty ofraising or lowering the guard A can be performed by a lateral motion ofthe driver without interfering with the other duties which henecessarily has to perform.

The location of the lever C is to be such that the driver can easilyoperate upon the same without having to change his usual position, andit is advantageous to employacontractile spring 9 to hold the parts intheir normal position and prevent any looseness, so that the guard canbe thrown instantly up or down, according to the direction of motiongiven to the upper end ofthe lever C.

As it is usually only necessary to throw the guard down, the shield 8may be adapted to pressure by the lateral movement of the body in onedirectiononly; but it will be apparent that the objects sought by thepresent invention can be eected by lever mechanism constrncteddierentlyfrom that herein described and shown, as I do not limit myselfin these particulars.

This invention is to be distinguished from devices that have heretoforebeen made in which a guard has been held bya latch mechanism and allowedto drop when the latch is disconnected, because with this device theamount of depression of the forward end of the guard cannot easily beregulated, but by my present improvement the forward end of the guardcan be pressed down upon the pavement if necessary, and the extent ofmovementaecommodates variations in the position of the car platform tothe rails and to the pavement, and as soon as the pressure that forcesthe forward end of the guard down is relieved, the spring raises theforward end of the guard for clearing obstructions, and where the leverC is pressed in the opposite direction the forward end of the guard canbe raised above its normal position.

The driver can hold down the guard as long as desired by simply holdinghis leg against the lever.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination with the car platform, of aguard extending forward of the car, pivotal connections on which theguard is free to be swung up or down,springs for holding the guardagainst rising or falling from a normal position, a connection to theguard and a lever extending above the platform and adapted to beingacted upon by the leg of the driver in opposite directions from eitherraising the guard or for depressing the front edge against the action ofthe springs, substantially as specified.

2. The combination with the car platform, of a guard, a pivotalconnection between the guard and the platform, a rubber spring acting tohold the guard inits normal position, a lever pivoted upon the platformand extending upwardly and provided with a shield that is adapted tobeing acted upon by a lateral movement of the driver or motorman, and aconnection from -the lever to the guard, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 18th day of September, 1893.

HENRY A. HOWE.

Witnesses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, A. M. OLIVER.

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